City protest against Israel's Gaza actions

January 02, 2009

Protesters turned out this afternoon in downtown Chicago to protest Israel's recent military action in the Gaza Strip.

People gather in Pioneer Court on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago to protest against Israel's recent military actions in the Gaza Strip. (Tribune / Terrence Antonio James) More photos at chicagotribune.com.

Officials with the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communication estimated the crowd at 4,000 people, many of whom first gathered in Pioneer Plaza near Tribune Tower at about 2 p.m. chanting slogans, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs that read, "Stop U.S. Aid to Israel Now."

Just before 4 p.m. a few dozen people kneeled in the plaza down facing east and prayed.

Protesters later spilled across the Michigan Avenue Bridge to East Wacker Drive in front of the building that houses the Consulate General of Israel. Police there closed off a block-long stretch to vehicle traffic and organizers spoke to the crowd over bullhorns with more sloganeering.

"Free, free, Palestine," a male voice shouted over a loudspeaker. The crowd shouted the same in response.

The protest was one of many recent demonstrations around the world in response to Israel's week-long air strikes on the Gaza Strip, a series of assaults Israel says are meant to deter rocket attacks into southern Israel by Hamas.

The U.N. estimates 20 to 25 percent of the more than 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes on Hamas militants were civilians.

Many of the protesters in Chicago decried the deaths of civilians.

"It's just innocent people getting killed," said Hammad Haq, 23, a UIC student from Elgin who attended the protest with several classmates. "All we're protesting against is the killing of innocent people."